Long before achieving rock stardom, Rick Springfield took a gig performing for U.S. troops in Da Nang during the Vietnam War. That 1968 trip took a dramatic turn when his location came under attack, leading to an incident that he admits remains difficult to process decades later.
An Unexpected Night in Da Nang
Speaking during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, Springfield reflected on his time as a teenage musician in 1968. Seeking an opportunity to earn money prior to finding mainstream fame, he accepted an offer to travel to Vietnam to entertain U.S. service members stationed in Da Nang.
While there, Springfield formed a bond with some of the soldiers and ended up staying overnight with them inside a radio shack. The situation rapidly escalated when the area came under attack.
“I stayed in the radio shack, and we got attacked, and I’m throwing mortars down the freaking tube of the radio shack.”
— Rick Springfield on The Joe Rogan ExperienceMortar Fire and the Immediate Aftermath
Springfield described the experience as initially feeling surreal, recalling officers radioing that there were “no friendlies” in the vicinity. Given the opportunity by soldiers to fire mortars down the tube, he dropped roughly five or six mortars down, remarking that he “could have easily lost a hand” in the process.
At the time, he admitted he acted out of youthful naivete, comparing his mindset to playing “John Wayne” without fully understanding the gravity of his actions. The following day, personnel informed him that one of the mortars he fired had struck someone.
Incident Summary
- Year & Location: 1968 in Da Nang, Vietnam
- Purpose: Entertaining U.S. troops as a teenage musician
- Event: Fired 5 to 6 mortars during an attack on a radio shack
- Outcome: Informed the next day that one mortar successfully hit a target
A Lasting Emotional Weight
Decades after returning from Vietnam, Springfield confessed that the reality of taking a life remains a difficult burden to carry. He explained that despite the distance of time and the context of war, accepting responsibility for ending a human life is still hard to face.
He described it as the primary memory from that period that he could never fully settle with, noting that it still feels heavy whenever he contemplates the reality of what occurred.
